The week's top news and analysis

It was a week that challenged conventional wisdom and ready assumptions.

Where one might have expected the arrival of the highly anticipated iPhone to buckle the knees of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, RIM instead saw its stock soaring to new heights even as shoppers queued to lay hands on the Apple device.

Data showing further deterioration in the U.S. housing market, meanwhile, signaled to some observers that an improved condition lies just around the corner.

Shares of the private-equity firm Blackstone
BX, -0.40%
-- reported to be as much as 10 times oversubscribed upon their initial offering late last week -- could scarcely find buyers mere days later.

Futures in the energy market were hitting long-term highs and lows at the same time.

And immigration legislation strongly backed by President Bush unraveled because of opposition -- from the right.

Falling in line with the misdirection theme, the three main U.S. indexes edged up on the week, down for the month and up for the second quarter. See Market Snapshot.

Stay tuned to MarketWatch this weekend for continuing coverage of developing and breaking stories, second-quarter investment updates, and features on such topics as biofuels and the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover -- oh, yes, and status updates from the iPhone front.

Tim Rostan, managing editor

Apple's top job after Jobs

While many of us -- including many of us in the media -- were salivating this week over the iPhone and its looming launch, technology reporter Rex Crum took a step back and explored an issue that's even more central to the future fortunes of Apple
AAPL, -0.32%
: its plan for a successor, when the day comes, to iconic (or perhaps iConic) CEO Steve Jobs. See full story.

A 'berry, 'berry good day

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion rocketed 20% in a single trading session -- a session, mind you, that would otherwise have been overshadowed by the countdown to the launch of new rival Apple's iPhone device -- as investors reacted giddily to RIM's latest quarterly results, its decision to divide each share into three, and analysts' recalculations of the company's and stock's
RIMM
prospects. See full story.

That '70s show

Crude-oil futures -- hypersensitive, to adopt one analyst's term, to any inventory concerns -- closed the week above $70, with worries over the availability of summer supplies and rising global tensions sending crude to a fresh nine-month high and a gain of nearly 3% for the quarter. See full story.

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